Sencha Animator, the first professional tool for creating CSS-based animations, lets interactive designers create high-quality HTML5/CSS3-based animations that run smoothly on mobile devices and ad networks, without requiring a plug-in.

SAN FRANCISCO (Adobe MAX, booth 214): Sencha, the leading provider of HTML5 frameworks and tools for desktop and mobile application developers, has shipped Sencha Animator, the industry’s first commercial tool optimized for the creation of CSS3-based animations that run plug-in free. Note to media: a comprehensive press kit is available online.

Sencha Animator enables professional designers and advertising creatives to leverage Web standards and create highly engaging, cross-platform animations for WebKit browsers, the latest Internet Explorer 10, and popular touchscreen mobile devices. Using Sencha Animator, creatives can build rich advertising experiences for the Web that engage more viewers on a wider range of devices, boosting click-through rates and campaign ROI.

“CSS3 animations offer both cross-platform and performance advantages over JavaScript- and Flash-based animations on mobile devices,” said Michael Mullany, CEO of Sencha. “Sencha Animator provides complete creative control over the animation via a familiar user interface, and also exports human-readable, standards-based CSS that can be edited for custom modifications.” Read more about Sencha Animator on the Sencha blog.

“Mobile is no longer optional. Sencha Animator fills the gap in Web animation tools and helps us deliver a new level of mobile creative,” said Marc Infield, partner at Infield Design. “The timeline interface is so familiar that we were producing HTML5/CSS animations in no time. And with the actions interface, creating complex interactions is intuitive. That’s what I’d expect from the people who brought us Ext JS.”

Author and deliver rich, immersive experiences using Web standards

Until now, creating animations with CSS3 has been a painstaking manual process accessible only to designers with advanced coding skills. With Sencha Animator, any designer can create CSS3 ads that rival rich-media ads made with traditional desktop applications. Sencha Animator provides complete creative control over the animation via a familiar user interface, and also offers further customization using the JavaScript language.

“Sencha Animator has opened the door to creating rich, complex animations using HTML5 and CSS3,” said Corey Lansdell, co-owner of Pulp Studios. “We build character-based animations that require lots of keyframes and tweening. With Sencha Animator, tools like motion-path tracking and timeline workflow aid us in building lush, fluid character movements. These and other tools limit the need for extensive programming, which is a huge cost savings.”

Sencha Animator costs $199 per seat and is available for immediate download from Sencha.com. Volume discounts are available; see the Sencha store for details.

About Sencha

More than 10,000 customers and 60% of the Fortune 100 rely on Sencha to deliver innovative applications that drive their business. Sencha provides and supports enterprise-class Java and JavaScript frameworks that leverage HTML5 to deliver solutions for desktops, smartphones, tablets and more. The Sencha family of products is engineered to support application development teams and IT organizations throughout the entire application lifecycle process from architecture, design and development to testing, deployment and management. Customers can confidently deploy solutions to end users no matter what device or platform they are using. Visit us at www.sencha.com.